The EU Forestry Strategy, adopted in 1998, acted as a response to concerns about the lack of coherence and coordination between national forest policies and other forest related EU policies. Though the non-legally binding Forestry Strategy represents the first significant attempt to create an EU-wide framework for forests, its development and implementation left much to be desired.
This new report shows that the quantity of wood required to satisfy the European Union’s 20-20-20 target is likely to be too large to be met by increased production within the EU. Member States will have to rely on importing wood products from elsewhere, at the risk of damaging ecosystems in other parts of the world, while actually increasing the EU’s own carbon footprint.
Ministers will gather in mid June 2011 in Oslo to take a decision about whether to enter into negotiations on a legally binding agreement (LBA) for forests in Europe. NGOs question what the added value of this instrument will be and whether an LBA will really be able to deal with potential conflicts of interest concerning the future of Europe’s forests. This ForestWatch special outlines the main issues.
In this position paper, FERN explains that the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should prioritise enhanced forest protection and improved forestry practices that have notable and measurable positive environmental and climate benefits.
NGOs are concerned that a Forest Europe working group is pushing ahead with creating a Legally Binding Agreement on forests in Europe despite the fact that key questions have not been considered. The biggest among those unanswered questions is: what value would such a new agreement add to the protection of the forests in Europe? NGOs think the answer is 'none' and are also concerned that the process has been very poor.
Though EU policy aims to give equal weight to the 'commercial interests' versus 'ecological interests' of forests, in practice, commercial interests have dominated. This is concerning given that forests can help mitigate the effects of climate change, but are under threat from climate change itself.
Though EU policy aims to give equal weight to the 'commercial interests' versus 'ecological interests' of forests, in practice, commercial interests have dominated. This is concerning given that forests can help mitigate the effects of climate change, but are under threat from climate change itself.
